TEM

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), used within failure analysis, provides atomic-resolution imaging of a defect once fault isolation techniques have already narrowed down its approximate location, revealing fine structural detail, crystal defects, interface quality, or compositional variation that no other failure-analysis imaging technique can resolve at comparable resolution. Because TEM sample preparation is itself destructive and technically demanding, requiring an extremely thin sample slice precisely targeted at the suspected defect location, TEM is typically reserved as a final confirmation step after faster, non-destructive fault isolation techniques have already identified where to look.